Vehicle controls have been developed and refined over a period of years to fulfill a variety of needs. With respect to a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, it is essential that the direction and speed of movement be controlled. As is well known, the direction of an automobile is now normally controlled by a rotatable steering wheel, the speed is normally controlled by foot pedals which include an accelerator (throttle) for increasing (or maintaining) the speed of the vehicle and a brake for decreasing the speed (or stopping) the vehicle, and a transmission control which controls the gear selected (or range of gears for an automatic transmission), with the steering wheel, accelerator, brake and transmission control being normally positioned inside the passenger compartment so as to be readily available to the driver.
While the normal mode of control for a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, has been satisfactory for most individuals, improvements are still felt to be warranted, including, for example, enabling remote operation from a point distant from the normal driver position, or even remote operation from outside the vehicle.
In addition, some handicapped individuals have not been able to effectively control a motor vehicle using the now normally accepted control system. With respect to handicapped individuals, efforts have heretofore been made to develop different control systems for a vehicle that would enable certain handicapped individuals to control such a vehicle.
Such efforts have included, for example, a modified control system using mechanical controls to enable paraplegics who have lost the use of their lower extremities to manipulate the throttle and brake by hand with no change in steering (since the steering wheel is now normally rotated by hand).
A simple hand-operated "T" handle has also been developed for use by handicapped individuals still capable of rotating a conventional steering wheel, with the "T" handle controlling the throttle and brake through the use of pneumatic servos.
An adaptive control system for a vehicle has also been heretofore developed for use by certain quadriplegics capable of limited arm motion. In at least one such system, a steering wheel of reduced size has been used in conjunction with a pivotable pedestal having the steering wheel mounted thereon so that pivoting movement of the pedestal in one direction (usually by pushing the pedestal forward) causes the vehicle to be accelerated and pivoting movement in the opposite direction causes the brake to be applied. For higher level quadriplegics unable to exert the arm motion necessary for rotation of the steering wheel, a modification has also been heretofore developed which replaces the steering wheel with a tri-pin grip.
Still another control system has been heretofore developed for use by high level quadriplegics which utilizes a small joystick to control the three primary vehicle control functions (i.e., throttle, brake and steering) with the system depending upon utilization of hydraulic servos involving a large and complex array of pumps and valves.
The control system utilized for the lunar rover (Apollo moon missions) allowed the operating astronaut to control acceleration, braking and steering with one hand through the use of a rather complicated hand controller having potentiometers mounted therein to sense the position of the controller and drive wheel connected electric motors to effect propulsion and steering of the vehicle.
A remote control system has also been heretofore developed for a motor vehicle with the control system being particularly useful in allowing control to be effected with little arm movement and with the control system being therefore particularly well suited for use by handicapped individuals such as high level quadriplegics, and with the control system including a remote controller having a two-axis joystick, actuators for effecting direction and speed control, and electronic interfacing between the joystick and actuators (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,954).
While heretofore known and/or utilized modified control systems have allowed some flexibility in operator positioning and/or have allowed some handicapped individuals to operate a motor vehicle, further improvements in such systems could still be utilized.